Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Salim Bagus, says the Tokyo International Conference on Africa (TICAD7) currently underway in Yokohama, Japan, has revealed a great market potential for Malawi products in Japan and beyond.
Bagus said this on Wednesday in Yokohama after observing the influx of potential buyers at the exhibition booth that the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre, MITC, erected at the event venue displaying various products from Malawi.
The MITC booth was centre of attraction on Wednesday, the opening day of TICAD7, as more potential buyers thronged the booth making inquiries of the displayed products and expressing interest on importing them.
The minister challenged the business sector in Malawi to grab the market opportunity and produce more to satisfy the demand that the Malawi products had created at the TICAD7.
"There are a lot of Japanese who are looking for Malawi products and I'd like to encourage Malawian business people to produce a lot of quality products and to also participate in such exhibitions whenever they take place," explained Bagus in an interview.
He added: "I've been impressed with how products such as Moringa, which we see as just one of those things, selling like hot cakes here in Japan, which is an assurance that there's a very huge market for such products."
The minister said Malawi honey, tea and the Mzuzu Coffee were other products which remained the centre of attraction at the MITC exhibition booth and that opportunity for Malawi to be exporting the products remained high.
Other than selling the Malawi products to the world, MITC is also canvassing for potential investors to come to Malawi to explore investment opportunities in various sectors.
Meanwhile, Malawi government is expected to hold meetings with potential Japanese investors at the Conference to lobby for funds for energy project which the minister said had gone through all the stages of MOU signing and feasibility.
The TICAD7 is attended by African heads of state or their representatives, African and Japanese government officials, UN organizations, international civil society organizations and African and Japanese investors.
Malawi Vice President, Everton Herbert Chimulirenji is representing President Prof. Peter Mutharika at the TICAD7 and while there, the Veep is scheduled to hold a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and a number of side meetings with various high level dignitaries.
The Japanese Prime Minister officially opened the three-day TICAD7 on Wednesday afternoon, local time, with an emphasis on the need to find solutions for African challenges through science, technology and innovation.
Source: Nyasatimes